Lesley Taylor, the founder and Territory manager of the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), says the system was not designed to manage the sheer number of people who need help in the Territory.

She says there must be a wider focus on early intervention and support for families.

"What we find is there is endless tinkering to try and make this system [work] that was never designed to work in this way," she said.

She says that to get numbers down to where NAPCAN is able to cope and do its job well, a policing role, there must be more investment in the welfare of families.

Her sentiments have been echoed by the head of a national advocacy agency for child protection.

Frank Hytten of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care has warned the Territory Government that things won't improve until authorities engage more with Aboriginal families.

He says the number of children coming out of home care in the Territory is growing.

But he believes that is partly due to the way child neglect is sometimes interpreted by authorities.

"There was a worker, I was told this yesterday, who thought the fact that Aboriginal children weren't wearing shoes in the community was a form of neglect," he said.

"That is not neglect from an Aboriginal point of view."

Earlier this month, Chief Minister Adam Giles caused an outcry when he suggested that enforced adoption could be the right solution for neglected Aboriginal children in the Territory.

He was attacked by critics for advocating a strategy that they said could lead to another "stolen generation".

Mr Giles hit back by saying that his primary concerns were for the welfare and wellbeing of children at risk.